Civil Unions

Re "Gay bishop 'a walking, talking Rorschach,' " April 20 Bishop V. Gene Robinson brings up an interesting take on marriage in the United States when he says that, "in this country, it has become very confusing about where the civil action begins and ends and where the religious action begins and ends, because we have asked clergy to be agents of the state." Why don't we simplify the problem by having the government license civil unions to allow any two consenting adults to share their lives, property, insurance and anything else we now attach to the word "marriage"?

H&R Block Inc. is offering to reimburse part of the cost some couples in civil unions encountered when the company's online tax filing system refused to submit their returns. The company is offering couples who can show documentation that they started online but had to complete the process at one of H&R Block's offices either a $100 coupon toward having their tax returns prepared or a free copy of H&R Block's TaxCut software. The American Civil Liberties Union raised the issue in March on behalf of a Hartford, Conn.

Citing decades of "mistreatment, discrimination and prejudice," the only gay member of the state Legislature in Montpelier, Vt., pleaded for support of a bill allowing gays the equivalent of marriage. Spectators, some wearing pink badges for the bill and others wearing white badges against it, packed the state House as debate began. Both supporters and opponents say the bill would provide more rights and benefits for same-sex couples than any other state.

Hundreds of same-sex couples were granted the same legal rights, if not the title, as married couples as the state became the third to offer civil unions. The unions, which offer the legal benefits but not the title of marriage, were granted automatically to the hundreds of same-sex New Jersey couples who had been joined in civil unions or married in other states or nations.

The state House passed legislation Wednesday that would make Connecticut the second state to establish same-sex civil unions. Addressing concerns raised by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the House amended the bill to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. That means the Senate, which overwhelmingly approved the bill last week, would need to approve the amended version before it reaches the governor's desk.

A bill that would create the closest thing in America to gay marriage won preliminary approval in the state Senate on Tuesday after a debate watched by people wearing either white ribbons or pink stickers to show where they stood. The 19-11 vote came after the Senate defeated two proposed constitutional amendments designed to outlaw same-sex marriage. The bill will be up for final approval in the Senate today.

A bill that would create "civil unions" for homosexual couples overwhelmingly passed a Vermont House committee Wednesday, a key step toward creating the nation's most far-reaching law for gay domestic partnership. The bill grants all of the benefits and rights of marriage the state can legally offer, but it cannot grant the tax advantages and hundreds of other benefits that the federal government provides. "I'm incredibly proud of what we've done," state Rep.

Gov. John Lynch signed a law Thursday establishing same-sex civil unions in New Hampshire, allowing such couples to apply for the same rights as married people beginning in January. New Hampshire has "a long and proud tradition taking the lead in opposing discrimination," Lynch said. "Today that tradition continues." Same-sex unions from other states also will be recognized if they were legal in the state where they were performed.